Fridays are for Chicken [baked chicken with tomatoes and cheese]

Hallelujah, praise the Lord, I have found another “forget about it” chicken. You know, the kind of chicken which is almost effortless. And flavorful. And the kind that will go into heavy rotation in this household, I already know. Here is how you, too, can make this chicken.

You’ll need:

• A glug of olive oil
• A glug of your favorite boneless, skinless cut of chicken
• salt
• pepper
• 1 onion, finely chopped
• 2 cloves of garlic, also finely chopped
• 1, 14.5 oz. can of diced tomatoes
• 3 T mascarpone cheese
• a giant sprig of fresh basil, or a tsp. of dried

Brown your chicken, plus salt and pepper, in the olive oil in an oven-proof dish. Remove to a plate. Add onion and garlic to the pan, and saute for a couple of minutes, until fragrant and soft. Add the tomatoes (+ juice), and cook over low heat for 10-15 minutes. Add chicken back to the pan, and pop that sucker into the oven. Cook 10 minutes, flip the chicken, and cook 10 more. Done and done.

It should come as no surprise that this chicken comes from DALS, weeknight dinner champion.

 

A Resolution Breaker [stovetop mac and cheese]

This mac and cheese is amazing and quick, and if you’re looking for a great way to break your 2017, “be a healthier person” resolution, this is it.  I made it as written months ago, and we’re experimenting with Havarti and Mozzarella later this week.

Cheers, dear readers, and happy 2017.  I’ve got tons to tell you, but I’ve gotta get through the most epic reading post ever.  I’ve been editing it for weeks–weeks!

To make Alton Brown’s Stove Top Macaroni and Cheese for 4, you will need:

1/2 pound elbow macaroni*
4 tablespoons butter
2 eggs
6 ounces evaporated milk
1/2 teaspoon hot sauce
1 teaspoon kosher salt
Fresh black pepper
3/4 teaspoon dry mustard
10 ounces sharp cheddar, shredded

In a large pot of boiling, salted water cook the pasta to al dente and drain. Return to the pot and melt in the butter. Toss to coat.

Whisk together the eggs, milk, hot sauce, salt, pepper, and mustard. Stir into the pasta and add the cheese. Over low heat continue to stir for 3 minutes or until creamy.

*I take issue with a lot of recipes that call for less than a whole box of pasta.  Why wouldn’t you make the whole box of pasta?  So use a big pot, and double up if you want, dear readers.

Oops [white chocolate churro crunch]

For the past several weeks, I have been constantly hungry between 11-3.  I eat breakfast, and then lunch is this on-going affair that usually involves some attempt at a “meal,” mixed with handfuls upon handfuls of whatever is closest.

And then I listened to my beloved Sorta Awesome (I don’t even remember which episode, I’m sorry!), and I believe it was Kelly who mentioned that when she is taking care to eat well, she’s not constantly hungry throughout the day.

Oops!

I have not been eating particularly well lately.  Suggestions for easy, filling, and healthy breakfasts and lunches welcome!

I had already purchased the ingredients to make white chocolate churro crunch before having this epiphany, so I felt a little bit like the person who always says the diet will start tomorrow. What else am I going to do with a box of Honeycomb cereal?

That all worked out kind of great for me, because this snack mix is simply amazing.  It involves melted chocolate, so my picture is a bit of a lie. But if this blog had an alternate title it would be, the misadventures of a horrible chocolate melter, so I just ate all my globby-chocolate-blobs and snapped a picture of the rest of the mess.

I could not stop eating this. It’s absolutely addictive, and while I won’t say it’s better than muddy buddy mix, I will say it hits a different sweet spot. There’s room for both o rely sweet cereal concoctions in your life, too, I’m sure. 

To make snacks for a little group, you will need:

• 4 cups Honeycomb Cereal
• 4 tablespoons melted butter
• 1/4 cup granulated sugar
• 2 tablespoons ground cinnamon
• 1/2 cup melted white chocolate

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.  Toss honeycomb with melted butter in a large bowl.  Then add cinnamon and sugar, and toss to coat.  Bake for 15 minutes.

When Honeycomb mixture has completely cooled, drizzle with melted chocolate*.  Refrigerate or freeze till chocolate is set, then serve.

*I hate working with melted chocolate, because things always come out so much blobbier for me than other, more seasoned food bloggers.

On Easy Baking [peanut butter snack cake]

I am sitting here, typing this post, incredulous that my all time favorite cake (Lazy Daisy Cake, from The Fannie Farmer Cookbook) is not on this blog.  I’ll need to remedy that.  I love it because not only is it a wonderful yellow cake, but it’s the simplest thing to put together.  It bakes in an 8×8 pan, and begs for swirls of chocolate frosting.  It’s an everyday kind of cake, and who would ever complain about that?

This cake, in that same vein, is a dream to make.  It takes minutes to put together, and you don’t even need a mixer.  I topped it, as Molly suggested, with a dusting of powdered sugar, but I think it’s begging for a Nutella buttercream.  Next time.  It tastes kind of like a peanut butter cookie, but in cake form.  I brought this to a group of friends, but I’d imagine I would bake it any random morning, set it on the kitchen counter, and watch it disappear throughout the rest of the day.

To make peanut butter snack cake, you will need:

• 1 c sugar
• 1 c all-purpose flour
• 3/4 tsp kosher salt
• 3/4 tsp baking powder
•  3/4 tsp baking soda
• 1 large egg
• 1/2 c buttermilk
• 1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/4 c flavorless oil, like canola
• 6 tb water
• 1/2 c creamy peanut butter (Molly uses all natural.  I didn’t, so I dropped the sugar by about 1/4 C)

preheat oven to 350.

grease an 8-inch square pan (or something similar, like the pan that i used), line the bottom with parchment paper, and set it aside.

in a large bowl, whisk together all the dry ingredients. in a medium bowl, whisk together all the wet ingredients. whisk the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and then pour into cake pan and bake until the top is golden and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. begin checking for doneness at 25 minutes.

let cool for about 10 minutes in the pan and then turn onto a lightly greased cooling wrack.

dust with powdered sugar, cut into squares, and serve! store in an airtight container for up to a few days, or freeze for up to a few weeks.

This is Not the Post I Thought I was Writing [lettuce wraps with ricotta and golden raisins]

This was going to be a post about how I finally found a go-to appetizer to serve at any function I throw.  But a good post writes itself and that was sitting in my drafts folder for over two weeks, not going anywhere.

And in those two weeks I started seeing lettuce cups popping (back) up everywhere.  I mean, they were a thing years and years ago, right?  But I guess they’re making a comeback.

I’m here to tell you, this is the recipe you need.  Lettuce cups are fine when stuffed with chicken salad, but they shine with this unique mixture of golden raisins and almonds.  A friend brought them over for a pre-lunch snack, and I turned around and served them to AGOMYR the very next day.

What’s best is that you can make them without turning on the oven at all!

To make lettuce wraps with ricotta and golden raisins, you will need:

 

• 1/2cup unsalted roasted almonds
• 1/2cup golden raisins
• 2tablespoons chopped fresh chives
• 3tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 1/8teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/8teaspoon pepper
• romaine leaves, washed and dried
• 1 1/2cups ricotta

 

In a small bowl, combine the almonds, raisins, chives, oil, salt, and pepper.

Arrange the romaine leaves on a plate and top each with a dollop of fresh ricotta and a generous spoonful of the almond mixture.

*A note – This could be scaled up to feed a crowd easily.  Do it!

 

 

The Easiest Breakfast for Dinner [ham, egg and cheese biscuit bake]

If you’ve been around, you know my husband’s standby comment with regard to what I make is, “It’s pretty good.”

Anything more than “pretty good” and I know I’ve hit the jackpot.

And when I get a compliment better than “pretty good” for a meal that is absurdly easy to make, it’s like winning the dinner lottery.

Or in this case, the breakfast for dinner lottery.  I’m easing back into the kitchen with what you, long-time watchers of the Food Network might consider a semi-homemade meal, and it’s working so far.

On last night’s agenda: ham, egg, and cheese biscuit bake.

To make it, you will need:

• 1 package refrigerated biscuit dough
• 10 eggs
• 1 C shredded cheddar
• 1/2 C Parmesan, or other melty cheese
• 1 ham steak, cubed*
• 1 small onion, small diced
• 1/4 tsp. garlic powder
• pepper
• chives or scallions, chopped, if you have them (I didn’t)

Preheat the oven to 350.  Grease a casserole dish, or spray with baking spray.  Place biscuits in a single layer in the dish.  Beat eggs with a whisk.  Stir in cheeses, ham, onion, garlic powder, and lots of fresh ground black pepper.  Bake 35 minutes or till eggs are set.  Top with chives and scallions.

*A note that ham steaks are in the meat section of your grocery store, and are already fully cooked.  They’re like giant slices of the ham your family cooks for Christmas or Easter.  A smaller side note that I have never successfully recooked a ham.  I can’t ever get it hot enough.  Or glazed in a way I like.  A challenge for another day.

 

Naptime Scones

Since the Gooplet arrived at La Moneda, we have been so fortunate as to have hot meals brought to us left and right.  I did my best to stock our freezer before he got here, and Wooden Nickels and AGOMYR, along with some other friends and family, have been the ones who have made sure we’re eating a square meal each night.

But I, of course, couldn’t stay out of the kitchen for too long, and so I got back to baking right away.  I get completely famished in the middle of the night, and often find myself wandering downstairs to see what I can grab off the counter.  When the baked goods from our neighbors ran out, I had to take matters into my own hands.  A friend of mine had served her classic scone recipe when we visited her the other day.  She claimed they were simple, and that she’d be more than willing to share the recipe.  A quick glance revealed I had all the ingredients necessary, and so during the Gooplet’s solid nap of the day, I pulled these off.  I forgot how much I love a good scone.  Fresh from the oven, all flaky and puffed up?  There’s nothing better.  And when they come together in about 15 minutes, and bake off in 7, I think it’s safe to say these are going to become staples around here.

To make Caroline’s scones/Naptime Scones, you will need:

• 1 3/4 C flour
• 1 T sugar
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• 1/2 tsp. baking soda
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1/2 C shortening
• 1/2 C buttermilk

Optional:

• 1/2 C blueberries or cinnamon chips (I had neither and used toffee chips)
• turbinado sugar for coating the scones before baking (I didn’t have any, but they are amazing with it)

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees.  Combine flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a medium bowl.  Cut in shortening with a pastry cutter, or two forks, until the shortening is the size of rice kernels.  Add blueberries or chips, if using.  Stir in buttermilk with a spatula, and mix till all ingredients are just incorporated.

Turn out two balls of dough on a flat surface, and pat each into rough circles, about 1.5 inches thick.  Cut circles into eighths, and place triangles of dough on a baking sheet lined with parchment.  If using sugar, roll each triangle in sugar.  Bake 7-8 minutes.

On Kitchen Memories [cake mix funfetti cookies]

First, and most important, Happy Birthday Sous Chef Lauren!  You’re my favorite.

Second, my girl Raluca recently posted about muffins she made on a Sunday morning.  They didn’t turn out exactly the way she’d envisioned, and then she realized that didn’t matter at all.  Sometimes it’s more about making memories in the kitchen than it is about what comes out of the oven.

And thus, I give you cake mix funfetti cookies.  They are not homemade, a la these, which I love, and have dough for in the fridge right now.  They come from a box of white cake mix, which is something I always have in the pantry.  They take just a few minutes to make, and serve as a great way to use up those seasonal M&Ms you buy on clearance the day after the holiday.  That can’t be just me.

To make 2 dozen cookies, you will need:

• 1 Box of White Cake Mix
• 1/3 Cup Oil
• 2 Eggs
• 2 Tbs Sprinkles
• 1/2 Cup M&Ms

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Mix the cake mix, oil, eggs, and sprinkles together with a spatula until combined.  Form balls of dough with about a Tablespoon of batter.  Use the bottom of a glass to flatten them onto baking sheets.  Press 3 M&Ms into the top of each cookie.  Bake 8-9 minutes.

I Think You Can in Europe [French Country Chicken, or Christ House Swiss Chicken]

If you don’t remember the reference, see above.

I’ve been putting my WASP cooking skills to the test lately.  You see, organic chicken was on sale at the grocery store, so I bought multiple pounds of the stuff, threw most of it in the freezer, and have been working my way through it ever since.  One of the best things you can do with chicken is throw it in a casserole.  If that casserole involves a can of cream of anything soup, all the better.  I’ve rarely met a chicken casserole I didn’t like.  See previous iterations here and here.

This particular casserole came to me via two sources.  The first was via a longtime family friend who gifted it to me as a bridal shower gift.  The second was through one of the WASPiest cookbooks I own (the same one mentioned in that second casserole link above).

But here’s the thing.  The recipe from the family friend calls this French Country chicken casserole.  The other calls is Christ House Swiss chicken.  Google got me nowhere in terms of the “Christ House” thing.  I’m sure the Swiss is from the cheese, though.  But bottom line, here is a recipe for the easiest, most decidedly non-European, but European-sounding chicken casserole you’ll ever have.

To make 6 servings, you will need:

• 6 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves
• 6 slices Swiss cheese
• 10 oz. can cream of chicken soup
• 2 T white wine (you could sub in milk if you had to)
• 2 C herb-seasoned stuffing mix
• 1/4 C butter, melted

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Arrange chicken breast halves in a greased casserole dish. Top each with a slice of cheese.  Mix sauce ingredients will and spoon over chicken.  Top with stuffing, and drizzle with butter.  Cover with foil and bake 50 minutes.

(This is great frozen as well.  Cook all the way through, cover tightly, and freeze till you need dinner.   I usually get a giant pack of 24 cheese slices and make 4 casseroles.)

Weekend Stories [cookies and cream rice krispie treats]

I kept my January calendar extremely empty.  January was about work, and working out, and not much else.  That’s a lie.  January was also about watching TV.  But otherwise, January was a blank slate on which to start the year.  This past weekend however, I started coming out of my cocoon to see what 2015 has to offer.

This weekend I met up with some college friends.  I ordered a mimosa, because brunch, and got to hold a cute, squishy baby.

This weekend I watched two movies.  Boyhood and This is Where I Leave You.  Both fantastic, both for different reasons.  You know that Pinterest-y quote about looking back someday and realizing the little things were the big things?  That’s Boyhood.  And This is Where I Leave You is great for anyone whose family puts the fun in dysfunctional.

This weekend I took 3 days off from Pure Barre.  That’s a pretty big deal, but there was a little voice in the back of my head that told me I needed the rest.  I slept as late as I wanted for the first Saturday since I can remember, and it felt so good.  The best part is I’m itching to get back to the barre this afternoon.

This weekend I volunteered to serve dinner to some DC folks in need of a meal.  My husband asked if I had ever done something like that before, and I realized that in years of volunteering, I hadn’t.  It was a wonderful experience, and I am excited to have a couple similar dinners on the calendar for February.

This weekend I got to spend time with people who I’ve gotten to watch grow into older people who are kind, funny, loving, and generous.  They make me so incredibly happy.

This weekend I got paid the best compliment by my friend, K.Reza.  (Who I don’t think has gotten a shout out yet on A Glass of Milk.  K.Reza, it’s long overdue).  She told me my Rice Krispie Treat game was on lockdown.

To make Cookies and Cream Rice Krispie Treats for 16, you will need:

• 1 bag marshmallows
• 1/2 C butter
• 7 C Rice Krispies
• 3 C Oreos, roughly chopped
• 1 bag white chocolate chips; divided

Line a 9 x 13 pan with parchment, and grease liberally.

Melt butter in the bottom of a large pot.  Stir in marshmallows until melted.  Before they’re completely melted, add 1 1/3 C white chocolate chips, and melt those too.  Remove the pot from the heat and stir in Rice Krispies.  Add 2 1/2 C chopped Oreos.

Pour mixture into pan, and pat Rice Krispies down evenly.  Sprinkle remaining Oreos over top.

Melt remaining white chocolate chips, and drizzle over pan.  Leave at room temperature till cool.  Cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate until chocolate hardens.

Cut into squares and serve.